Many of us learned to not trust ourselves. Our internal experiences may not have been validated and our ideas and thoughts may have been dismissed or ridiculed, so we disconnected from our own intuition and wisdom. We learned to turn outside of ourselves for guidance, because we learn that it is not safe to trust ourselves.

But our intuition is still there. It is like a compass - always sending us signals about whether we are walking our path or someone else’s. It is telling us when someone violates our values and boundaries. It is telling us when we are drifting away from the truth of ourselves. 

Looking back at my life, each regret I had was a product of me overriding my intuition (gut feeling) or not following what, deep down, I knew I needed to do for myself.

If you feel that somehow you've drifted away from the truth of who you are or perhaps want to start learning how to trust yourself, try this exercise and engage in some self-reflection with these journaling prompts. As with anything new that you are incorporating, consistency will yield best results (in this case, more self-trust and ownership over your decisions).  

Exercise: 

• When you find yourself in a place of having to make a decision (start with something minor) or needing comfort or support from other people, before you reach out to anyone, see if you can distinguish what is it that you really need. Do you need an advice, a listening ear, a pep talk, support...? Whatever it may be, ask yourself, what is it that you are hoping they will say, and see if you can give/say that to yourself before you reach out. 

Journaling Prompts:

• Is there something in my life that doesn’t feel right? Why not?
• How might I be going against my true self?
• How might I be betraying my values?
• Where am I giving up things that matter to me?
• Where might I be ignoring my intuition?
• What if I listened to and followed my intuition? 

Most timelines we set for ourselves are completely arbitrary. We take someone’s expectation of when we should start things and when we should finish them, and then we adopt it as the timeline to live by without ever questioning it.

Based on it, we may decide it is too early to start some things, too late for others, and the perfect time for yet another thing. While it may be the case that at certain times in our life certain decisions feel more sensible, if we live by the premise that there is such a thing as THE right time we’re bound to experience disappointment and struggle. 

Notice if there is an area of your life in which you may be having an expectation that is attached to a timeline. Even if it's something innocuous as "I'm going to start... on Monday!" 
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Consider:

• Am I forcing myself to make something happen within a particular timeline?
• What would it be like to let go of the timeline or be more flexible around it?
• Am I waiting for a ‘perfect’ time to start something? Why?
• What if I can start right now instead of waiting?
• What feels significant about this timeline?